DAILY DIGITAL EDIT – 22.02.2018

The Daily Digital News Edit, bringing you the top 3 digital news stories of the day.

Twitter bans bulk tweeting and duplicate accounts in bot crackdown

Twitter is announcing major limits on how users and apps can automate tweets, in order to combat spam and political propaganda bots. Developers are now banned from using any system that simultaneously posts “identical or substantially similar” tweets from multiple accounts at once.

*Twitter has faced criticism over not doing enough to prevent bots from spreading spam and misinformation – this forms part of its wider plan to tackle this issue. Nonetheless, this will affect many publishers who use third-party tools to schedule similar tweets across multiple accounts at once.*

———————

Armchair travel: the ‘world’s first virtual reality airline’ launches

First Airlines – the ‘world’s first virtual airline’ – is taking armchair travel to new heights with the help of VR. Passengers are issued with an official boarding pass and can expect the full on-board experience, complete with in-flight meals, in-flight announcements and ambient engine sounds simulating the noises within an aircraft, using VR headsets within a makeshift aircraft setting.

*The latest venture is the first time this technology been used within the aviation and travel industry – at a fraction of the price of a holiday, initiatives such as this enable people, who ordinarily would be unable to afford a holiday, to travel and explore the world.*

———————

Twitter is going out of its way to verify accounts of some of the most prominent students who survived the Parkland shooting

Twitter has verified the accounts of some of the most publicly outspoken students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida where a shooter killed 17 people last week.Survivors have taken to social media to make loud calls for gun control, which have been met with abuse and the spread of misinformation about the teenagers online.

*The recent move by Twitter to verify students is yet another example of how big the current discussion around gun regulation has become, and an example of how the company hopes to add credibility to users who are at the centre of a debate riddled with misinformation.*